NOTE: Yes, there is an audio issue in the introduction. It goes away at the end of the intro. Sorry, Dave refused to wear headphones tonight… – Producer Henri.

In a world where people still believe that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a real thing, where SNOPES “fact checks” the Babylon Bee, where Saints fans still believe that it was all a plot against them, the whole Jussie Smollett story has been labeled as “weird” by the local news personality.

It is a huge conversational buffalo, so big in fact that I am not even sure where to start chewing. The weeping and gnashing of teeth by the celebrities left who will admit that the supported Smollet in the beginning might be a good place. But even I don’t have the appetite it would take to consume all of that.

No, for me there is an unexpected concern here.

Back in 1773, some Lobster Backs were put on trial for murder in Boston. They were accused of shooting Colonials, but it was their defense that really caused a commotion. Their attorney decided to stand up for the rights of the accused, not to join the baying crowd calling for their blood.

Up stepped John Adams. Yes… THAT John Adams…

He defended the soldiers and while it was surprising at the time, calmer heads understood what the mob did not – that vengeance is not justice and that the accused have rights. Adams won the trial and the Soldiers went free. As they should have.

What I watched this morning, along with millions of my fellow countrymen, appalled me.

Because a very sick person tried to manipulate half of America by playing on perceived hatred and stereotypes because he was mad about his salary?

Nope.

I was appalled that what I watched was nothing more than a return to the values and practices of a tyrannical government. Whether you or I think that Jussie Smollet did it or not, how is it okay with us that the government – in the form of a Police Chief – stood in front of the camera broadcasting to the world and indicted, arraigned, tried, judged and all but sentenced a man for crime before his booking photo was dry?

It may make me unpopular, but as my Dad always said, that puts me in good company. The accused have rights, and I was appalled at how the government just rolled right over them this morning.

Of course, there are bigger problems in this country. But they aren’t what we keep being told that they are. And when you break it down, it’s not any different from the day that some Lobster Backs were sent into a volatile powder keg with a crowd yelling “Fire! Fire!” and in an attempt to quell one problem, created two…